1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a correlation operation method and a correlation operation device to be adopted when determining through an arithmetic operation a correlational relationship that exists among a plurality of signal data strings. It also relates to a focus detection device and an imaging device adopting the correlation operation method and the correlation operation device.
2. Description of Related Art
There are devices known in the related art that determine through an arithmetic operation the correlation between a pair of electrical signal data strings output from a pair of photoelectric conversion element arrays on which optical images of a target object are formed. For instance, there is a focus detection device that receives at image sensors a pair of light fluxes having passed through different areas of an exit pupil plane of a photographic optical system, converts a pair of optical images formed on the image sensor to a pair of electrical signal data strings and detects the focus adjustment state at the photographic optical system by determining through an arithmetic operation the correlation between the signal data strings (see Japanese Laid Open Patent Publication No. H04-338905.